Wednesday, 4 November 2009

Outside the United Kingdom, the Lisbon Treaty is seen in a positive light, as testified by the national governments and parliaments.

Before entering the government, the Tories have exasperated their European partners by leaving the mainstream Group of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament, establishing the anti-integrationist European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, by inciting president Vaclav Klaus to hold out on his Lisbon Treaty signature against the democratic approval by 27 national parliaments, by astounding the EU member states through declaring the possible nomination of Tony Blair as president of the European Council to be a hostile act, by transferring the new Europarty – the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) and its think tank (foundation) – in the hands of outspoken anti-EU MEPs, and by campaigning for further British “red lines” and opt-outs, with no consideration for contributing responsibly to the common project.

There are three main options to continue towards the outer edges of the European Union, or beyond: an amicable settlement, political extortion or exit.

Amicably: Further repatriation of EU powers to Britain has to find unanimous agreement between 27 member states, but what is the balance of the Tories’ goodwill capital to draw on?

Extortion: If a coming Conservative government opts for confrontation, are the 26 other EU member states really going to capitulate to political blackmail?

Exit: The Lisbon Treaty outlines the modalities.

Let us first look at the UK Conservative (British) situation as seen by outsiders, with the Lisbon Treaty factually ratified by all member states.

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Transatlantic relations

The signals from the US-EU summit underline the importance of a European Union willing and able to act as one in the world.